Combined letter and envelope with juxtaposed pair of two-ply folded corners



COMBINED LETTER AND ENVELOPE WITH JUX- TAPOSED PAIR OF TWO-PLY FOLDEDCOR- NERS Martin B. Loetscher, Sacramento, Calif. Application April 16,1957, Serial No. 653,099 1 Claim. 01. 229-'9z.1

The present invention relates to improvements in a combined letter andenvelope with juxtaposed pair of twoply folded corners. It consists ofthe article of manufacture hereinafter described and claimed.

In my copending application on a Combined Letter and Envelope, SerialNo. 461,191, filed in the United States Patent Oflice on October 8,1954, now Patent No. 2,805,815, I disclosed a standard sized stationerysheet 8 /2 by 11", and folded in a predetermined manner so that thesheet became an envelope. Gummed strips were used for sealing the letterafter it had been folded to constitute an envelope. The folding of theenvelope was such that the contents of the letter were not only sealedaround substantially all edges of the envelope; but, in addition, therewas a minimum of two thicknesses of unwritten paper on both the frontand the back of the envelope which gave the same protection as when aseparate envelope was used and the enclosed letter written on only oneside, with the written face folded inwardly and placed Within theenvelope.

I In the same copending case, I show the sheet divided into eight equalareas on each side thereof by fold lines. The top two areas on the faceside of the sheet are reserved for the names and addresses .of theaddressor and addressee, and the folding is such as to dispose these twotop areas on the outside of the folded envelope and on opposite sidesthereof. Also, a stamp placed on the area containing the addresseesname; and when the stamp is cancelled by sending the letter through themail and the envelope subsequently opened, the cancelled stamp willremain a permanent part of the opened envelope and will appear in theupper right hand corner on the face side of the unfolded sheet.

The arrangement of the gummed strips and the folding of the sheet in mycopending case is such that only the lower right hand pair of corners ofthe folded and sealed envelope can be used in opening it. The folding ofthe sheet into an envelope provides this corner of the envelope with twofour-ply corners of folded stationery, one fourply corner for the frontof the envelope and one four-ply corner for the back. These two four-plycorners may be pulled apart by hand, when opening the envelope and willreadily tear the single ply gummed strips. No special opening tool, suchas a letter opener, need be used and the letter is undamaged whenopened.

The present invention differs from my copendingcase in that it providesa sheet of paper having the same width, but only one-half the length; i.e., 8 /2" by /g". This sheet is designed to be medially folded along ahorizontal line from one side to the other, and folded laterally along avertical line disposed midway between the sides and paralleling them toform four equal areas on the face side. The top two areas on the face ofthe sheet are for the names and addresses of the addressor and theaddressee, the same as in my copending case; and the lower two areas onthe same side are for the correspondence. The folded envelope is sealedby three gummed strips in the same way as in the copending case.

Y 2 The principal object of the present invention is to provide acombined letter and envelope which, when folded and sealed, will exposeonly two double-ply folded corners that overlie each other, and whichmay be gripped and pulled apart by hand for severing the single-plysealing strips and opening the envelope.

The item is simple in construction. If less privacy is desired, the fourareas on the back of the sheet may be used for correspondence. Even thenthe sheet may 'be made of apaque material so as to conceal thecorrespondence when the envelope is closed and sealed.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the specification continues.The novel features of the invention will be set forth in the claimshereunto appended.

Drawing My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, formingpart of this specification, in which:

Figure l is a front face view of the open letter prior to folding itinto an envelope, the letter being provided with three sealing strips;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken through the open letter,along the line IIII of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view on the same scale as in Figures 1 and 2, andshows the letter after the first fold is'made;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view through the partially foldedletter, and it is taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 3; I

Figure 5 is a perspective View of the completely folded and sealedenvelope, and illustratesthe exposed pairof two-ply corners by means ofwhich the envelope may be opened; and V Figure 6 is a plan viewof aportion of one of the gummedstrips. I

While I have shown only the. preferred form of-my invention, it shouldbe understood that various changes, or modifications, may be madewithinthe scope of the annexed claim without departingfrom the spirit thereof.

Detailed description In carrying out my invention, I provide arectangularshaped sheet A of any material upon which correspondence maybe written or typed. The sheetis preferably the same width, but one-halfthe length of the standard letterhead size which is conventionally 8 /2by 11". The front face A of the unfolded letter is illustrated in Fig-,ure 1. A horizontal fold line is indicated'by the dotdash line'l, and avertical fold line is suggested by the dot'clash line 2; The horizontalline 1 lies midway between the top edge 3 of the sheet A and the-bottomedge 4; while the vertical fold line 2 lies midway between the left.hand lateral edge 5 and theright hand lateral edge 6.

- The fold lines 1 and 2 divide the face A of the letter into four equalareas; i. e., an upper pair of areas 7 and 8, and a lower pair'of areas9 and 10. The upper left hand area 7 is adapted to contain theaddressors name and address, while the upper right hand area 8 isadapted to contain the addressees name and address. The lower pair ofareas 9 and 10 are used for correspodence.

Figure 1 also shows the upper right hand area provided with three gummedsealing strips. The first sealing strip B extends along the top edge 3and half of the strip is secured to the area 8 while the other halfprojects beyond the edge 3.. I prefer touse a' strip B of the typeillustrated in Figure 6. The strip B has two gummed areas 11 and 12separated by an ungummed area that has a line of perforations 13provided therein. The gummedarea I1 is used for securing one-half'thestrip to the area 1. The line of perforations 13 on the stripBparallels' the top edge 3 ofthe letter A' and is preferably disposed aslight distance above that edge. The other gummed area 12 of the strip Bis used for sealing the letter after it has been folded into an envelopein the manner presently to be described. The ungummed portion of thesealing strip is for the purpose of accommodating the thicknesses of thevarious plies when the letter folded into the envelope form.

A second sealing strip C, preferably of the same type as the sealingstrip B, has one-half of its width secured to the lower portion of thearea 8, so that its line of perforations 13 will parallel the horizontalfold line 1 of the letter A (see Figure l). The remaining half of thesecond sealing strip C is not secured to the area 19, but merelyoverlies this area prior to the folding of the letter into an envelope.It will be noted that the right hand end 14 of the second sealing stripC is spaced from the right hand edge 6 of the letter. This spacing isimportant and its purpose will be brought out hereinafter.

A third sealing strip D, preferably of the same type as the sealingstrips B and C, has one-half its width secured to the area 8 andadjacent to the right hand edge 6 of the letter so that the line ofperforations on this strip will parallel the edge 6 (see Figure 1). Theremaining half of the third sealing strip extends beyond the letter edge6, and is used for seaing the letter after it has been folded into theform of an envelope. It will be noted that the lower end 15 of the thirdsealing strip D is spaced above the horizontal fold line 1 of theletter. This spacing is important for the reason that will be pointedout later.

Before the letter is folded into the form of an envelope, it may bewritten or typed upon. The addressors name and address may be placed inthe left hand area 7, While the addressees name and address may beplaced in the right hand area 8 (see Figure 1). The correspondence orother data may be placed on the two lower areas 9 and 10. If completeprivacy is desired, only these two lower areas are used forcorrespondence. It is possible to use the rear face A (see Figure 2) foradditional correspondence and secrecy will be achieved when the envelopeis sealed, if opaque letter paper is used.

Upon completion of the writing or typing of the letter, it is firstfolded along the horizontal fold line 1 so that thecorrespondence-containing areas 9 and 10 will still be exposed at theback of the thus folded letter, as clearly shown in Figure 4. The loweredge 4 of the letter A will be brought into juxtaposition with the upperedge 3 so that these two edges will parallel each other. Onehalf of thesecond sealing strip C will now extend beyond the fold 1 (see bothFigures 3 and 4). The dot-dash arcuate arrow line 16 in Figure 1,extending from the left hand end of the lower edge 4 to the left handupper edge 3, indicates how the lower letter edge 4 is brought intocoinciding position with the upper letter edge 3. The dot-dash arrowline 17 in Figure 2 indicates the same folding operation.

The half folded letter is illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. The verticalfold line 2 divides the letter into two wing portions W and W the leftwing W including the folded areas 7 and 9, and the right wing Wincluding the folded areas 8 and 10. The dot-dash arrow line 18 inFigure 3 indicates how the two wings are folded about the vertical foldline 2, so as to bring the left hand edge 5 of the letter into acoinciding position with the right hand edge 6, and the areas 7 and 8will be exposed. The two areas 9 and 10 will be brought into confrontingrelation with one another and will be concealed from exterior view bytwo thicknesses of letter paper. The two exposed areas 7 and 8 willcontain the names and addresses of the addressor and adressee,respectively, and these will appear on opposite sides of the completelyfolded envelope.

The exposed portion of the first sealing strip B is folded over the topedges of the folded sheet or envelope, and is secured to the area 7 (seeFigure 5). Theexposed portion of the second sealing strip C is foldedover the fold line 1 0f the folded envelope and is secured to the area7; While the exposed portion of the third sealing strip D is folded overthe lateral edges 5 and 6 and is secured to the area 7.

When the letter is offered for sale, it will be preferably in thepartially folded condition shown in Figure 3. Also, it could be sold inthe open form shown in Figure 1, or in the completely folded form shownin Figure 5, except in the latter showing the three sealing strips B, Cand D would still have half of their portions extending beyond theboundary of the area 8 and unattached to the area 7.

The completely sealed envelope is illustrated in Figure 5 The end 14 ofthe second sealing strip C and the end 15 of the third sealing strip Dare spaced from each other and expose a-pair of two-ply juxtaposedfolded corners X and Y. If these two corners are manually grasped andpulled away from each other, the single ply sealing strips will be tornalong their perforated lines 13; and, in this simple way, the envelopeis opened.

The envelope cannot be opened at any other point because the adjacentends 19 and 20 of the strips B and D, respectively, enclose thejuxtaposed non-folded corners of the envelope disposed directly abovethe corners X and Y. Also, the left hand ends 21 and 22 of the sealingstrips 13 and C, respectively, are disposed close to the fold 2. Thelatter prevents the two remaining corners of the envelope from beingopened because any opening of the envelope at these corners would tearthe envelope along the fold line 2 and mutilate the letter.

The envelope, when opened by the addressee, will provide him with aletter on the face side A of which will bear the dated postalcancellation mark, as well as the cancelled stamp 23. All of this datacan be filed away with the letter and might become essential inestablishinga date in any legal controversy.

I claim:

A combined letter and envelope formed from a rectangular-shaped sheet ofpaper, the sheet defining top and bottom edges and a pair of lateraledges, the sheet having front and rear faces, said sheet having ahorizontal fold line extending transversely thereacross intermediate thetop and bottom edges, and further having a vertical fold line extendingbetween the top and bottom edges which is disposed intermediate thelateral edges; said vertical and horizontal fold lines dividing thefront face into an upper pair of areas and a lower pair of areas, theupper pair of areas of the front face being adapted to contain data asto an addressor and an addressee, respectively, the lower pair of areasof the front face being adapted to contain correspondence, the sheetbeing folded about said horizontal fold line so that the correspondencewill be at the back of the thus folded sheet; said sheet then beingfolded about the vertical fold line so that the two lower areascontaining the correspondence are disposed in confronting relation withone another and are concealed from the exterior view and so that a twoply fold is formed at said horizontal fold line, and with the addressorand addressee areas being exposed on the thus folded sheet, one of saidupper areas having one edge defined by one portion of said two ply fold,the other of said upper areas having one edge defined by a secondportion of said two ply fold, with the top edges of said upper areasbeing defined by respective portions of said top edge of said sheet, afirst sealing strip extending along and secured to the top edge of saidsheet substantially coextensive with the top edge of one of said upperareas and extending outwardly of the latter edge, a second sealing stripextending along and secured to the same one of said one of said upperareas as the first said strip adjacent said two ply fold and extendingoutwardly beyond the outer edge, said upper areas each having a thirdedge extending laterally of the said one edge and top edges thereof, athird sealing strip extending. laterally of said first and second stripsand being secured to the same one of said one of said upper areas as thefirst said strip adjacent one of said third edges and extendingoutwardly of the latter edge, said second and said third sealing stripsterminating in spaced relation to a common end of said two ply fold,said sealing strips being folded over the edges of the areas adjacentwhich they are respectively attached and being respectively sealinglyengaged along the corresponding edges of the other upper area, saidsecond and said third strips thus being spaced from the two opposedendsof said two ply fold whereby the two juxtaposed two ply ends may beindividually gripped and pulled apart for tearing the sealing strip andopening the sealed envelope, at least one of said third and said firstsealing strips extending longitudinally along the edge to which it isattached to the end thereof common to said top and said third edges ofsaid areas and covering the juxtaposed edges of said envelope thereat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,635,278 Kaplan July 12, 1927 1,946,751 McCarthy Feb. 13, 19342,805,815 Loetscher Sept. 10, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 318,784 Germany Feb.20, 1920 517,560 Great Britain Feb. 1, 1940 535,561

Great Britain Apr. 11, 1941

